


When All The World Is Gone It Is Us That Matter Still

by Sleepless_Malice



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: 4th Age, Flashbacks, Friendship, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-03 17:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17288138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleepless_Malice/pseuds/Sleepless_Malice
Summary: There was not even a spark of jealousy in Elladan’s heart; after Galadriel’s light fading from the Golden Wood, his grandfather deserved each kind of happiness, and he was glad that Celeborn had found it in Glorfindel’s arms long ago, his presence being like sunlight that encourages the new leaves to unfurl after winter.





	When All The World Is Gone It Is Us That Matter Still

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lynndyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynndyre/gifts).



> A huge thanks to my beta reader [Cherepashka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherepashka/pseuds/Cherepashka) for the awesome work on this story!

**When All The World Is Gone It Is Us That Matter Still**

*****

It was their love for these lands – for the green of the forests, for the smell of earth after heavy rain, for the bluest of skies – that had united them the first day they had met. Celeborn was a child of the forest, drawing energy and peace from the soft moss beneath his bare feet; and over the course of time he had become the forest, and the forest was him. Glorfindel more resembled the sky. His laughter was bright and radiant like sunshine, his presence able to warm even the coldest room, but he never gave his friendship lightly.

Then, during times of war and constant turmoil, perhaps one of the most unlikely friendships began to form. Though reborn, Glorfindel still mourned the loss of his old life – his friends and allies, his fellow captains; and it was palpable to each one who met him. By no means had Celeborn thought it possible that this elf would become his closest friend in all the years to come, let alone more than that, able to assuage some of Glorfindel’s grief. They were different, in so many ways.

From the corner of his eye Celeborn saw Glorfindel standing there, his hair shimmering golden in the low light of late afternoon, just like the leaves above them, transformed from silver to shining gold as they had been when first they had met each other. Over the course of time, Glorfindel had come to love the sanctuary the Golden Wood offered, a tranquil haven to sooth his mind and body in days of great turmoil, when everlasting shadows and their enemy of old came forth again to poison and to corrupt everything else; and with time and Galadriel's blessing, he had come to love its lord.

So it had come that night after night, they lay dreaming upon the green bed of moss, listening to the rustle of leaves and laughing into the gentle breeze, able to forget the darkness lingering and waiting.

Glorfindel looked straight at Celeborn, then towards a tree which rustled suspiciously. "Interesting, don't you think?"

This time, Glorfindel had not come alone. Celeborn had known of the love Glorfindel had had for Elrond’s twins from the day they were born. He had pledged both of his lives to duty and war, to protecting those unable to defend themselves; he would never be a father. When the twins grew older, the way Glorfindel admired them began to change, just as Galadriel predicted it would. Celeborn had been surprised that not the smallest spark of jealousy flared, but then, Glorfindel had never acted or even spoken about his feelings for many years, not until the twins had shown interest.

"Indeed," said Celeborn, now standing behind Glorfindel with his arms wrapped around his body. Instead of speaking on as he had planned to, he brought his lips to the nape of Glorfindel's neck, mouthing along the skin until he felt Glorfindel react to the touch, stretching like a content cat.

"Indeed what?" Glorfindel was teasing him, Celeborn knew. And damn, he had become utterly predictable of late. Celeborn could not begrudge it, not at all, when in response Glorfindel shifted in the embrace.

He placed another kiss to Glorfindel’s skin, then said: "Indeed I find it strange to see us so, when around us the earth changes and withers, and yet we endure." It was not exactly endurance, so Celeborn rephrased the sentence. "Living the life many have dreamt of in the confines of their narrow minds."

Glorfindel chuckled at that. He well knew to whom Celeborn was referring to but remained silent on the matter. "Quite often, we realize too late what really matters. I was not oblivious to that; gold and glory; reputation and riches."

Celeborn laughed. "So I should be glad that these days you prefer silver over gold?"

All of a sudden, Glorfindel became serious. Celeborn saw it first in his eyes, and then in the way his jaw worked and how he gripped his hands. "I'd choose you above almost all else, and that you know."

Celeborn could not help but kiss him then, wild and hungry, all the fires of the earth laid within, knowing it was answer enough. In moments like these, one touch always led to the next, and in the vastness of the forest, wrapped up in each other, they all too easily forgot everything around them, even the rustling of the nearby tree. It was them that still mattered; their love, their respect for one another; their friendship – and those who had decided not to forsake the earth as it was now.

 

*

During many restless nights on patrol the twins had drawn comfort from each other and their guardian, as Glorfindel had become. From tutor, to friend, to ally in whatever they did – to respect and love. Lips had brushed over tear-stained cheeks in the aftermath of their mother’s capture, fingers had ghosted over shaking skin until finally exhaustion exacted its toll and slumber enveloped them as Glorfindel’s arms always did. Intimacy came later, though not much. In the secrecy of the forest, far away from home, they gave in to the calls of their hearts, accepting what Glorfindel willingly gave. The touch had burned through them, ravishing their bodies until no tears and grief was left in them. All of it seemed so long ago now.

Sitting high up in the tree they had a good view into the glade where Glorfindel and Celeborn still stood, embracing each other. There was not even a spark of jealousy in Elladan’s heart; after Galadriel’s light fading from the Golden Wood, his grandfather deserved each kind of happiness, and he was glad that Celeborn had found it in Glorfindel’s arms long ago, his presence being like sunlight that encourages the new leaves to unfurl after winter.

"We shouldn't watch," Elrohir murmured.

Elladan laughed. "Then stop staring!”

Elrohir shot his brother an angry glance.

“Anyway,” Elladan went on, “then perhaps we should not have watched ages ago."

"It was different," Elrohir tried to explain himself, eyes drawn again towards Glorfindel and Celeborn.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because Glorfindel's idea still lingers on your mind?" Elladan asked, all teasing suddenly gone from his voice.

"Yes,” stated Elrohir, now looking straight at Elladan, longing and doubt fighting visibly on his face.

"Do you think it was said in earnest?"

Elrohir nodded. "He never says anything he does not mean to."

Elladan could not argue against this statement. "Don't you think... it is strange?" he asked, although deep inside he knew already that it was not. Nevertheless, his twin’s answer surprised him.

"Society defines what is strange,” Elrohir said. “Yet society as we knew it has broken apart. It is us now, and the few others who chose to stay."

Elladan nodded. "It is us now that matter still."

"Us," Elrohir repeated, and both of them smiled at each other. "And all the rest who chose to live as we do."

Those who had chosen to remain were not many; but did it matter, when those who mattered were still close? And was Glorfindel’s suggestion not the logical consequence, given how close they really were? There was no legitimate excuse to hold back what long had been on all their minds.

 

*

Late at night, with the fires already burning low and laughter dissipating into the vast expanses of the forest, Elladan finally found the courage for which he was usually famed. He had been sitting the entire night at Glorfindel’s side, Elrohir and Celeborn opposite them. Moonlight caught itself in his grandfather’s hair, which in times like these he wore unbound and unbraided, falling down his shoulders freely. He was beautiful to look upon - he always was - yet somehow to Elladan he appeared strangely vulnerable, as if he knew the world was about to change.

Although the twins’ relationship with Glorfindel had never been exactly a secret, all three of them had preferred to keep any physical affection private, confined to the nights beneath the stars. So kissing Glorfindel in front of their grandfather, who, at the same time, was Glorfindel's lover and had been for centuries, did feel strange – and a little awkward – to Elladan.

Excitement flittered, yet with all the emotions came worries of the sort he had not felt in many years. Yet here, under the star-spangled sky they were back again. A touch against the nape of Glorfindel's neck, the soft sigh that was so very typical for Glorfindel, the press of lips and hands; the way Glorfindel reassuringly touched Elladan’s hands in reassurance.

There was nothing shameful in what they did, Elladan knew, nothing he had not done a thousand times before. Nevertheless, he still paused to scan his grandfather’s face for judging glances or any other signs of disapproval. There were none to be observed, just as Glorfindel had predicted it would be. Around Celeborn wafted an air of indifference, of someone who had seen most things already but looking more closely, Elladan saw appreciation, even interest. He watched Elrohir instead and then Glorfindel right after, who now smiled. Glorfindel had a hundred different smiles; joy, appreciation, amusement, trust... by now Elladan had seen them all. This one spoke of encouragement and appreciation both and he hoped that Elrohir saw it, too.

Untangling himself from Celeborn’s familiar embrace, Elrohir sat up and shifted so that now he looked straight at Celeborn. Elladan had not failed to notice that his twin had been extraordinarily silent tonight, most likely shifting the words back and forth in his mind. Now he went from silent spectator to participant, the executant of Glorfindel’s plan and Elladan’s partner in crime. He dearly hoped Glorfindel was right in his assumption, but then, Glorfindel had not misinterpreted Celeborn in centuries. In his grandfather's eyes Elladan saw the same hesitation as he saw in his twin’s, and just as he thought that courage would forsake his twin, Elrohir tentatively reached out, closing his hands around Celeborn’s. 

"Come, and live with us," Elrohir said at last and for a moment the words hung in the tranquility of the night.

Us. With me. With my twin. With Glorfindel.

Elladan saw Celeborn tense, and then exhale, as if a burden fell from his shoulders, as if Elrohir spoke out loud what long had been on his grandfather’s mind, one way or another. It occurred to Elladan that perhaps Glorfindel had suggested it before, and Celeborn had declined. To look at him now, it had been with regret.

It was Elladan who spoke now.  "Our home is yours, just as the woods have always been ours."

Celeborn closed his eyes, then smiled, at Elrohir at first, then at Glorfindel and Elladan and before Celeborn even spoke, Elladan saw his answer in the way Celeborn hold Elrohir’s hands. “I gladly will, and I shall thank you, all three of you.”

More wine and laughter was shared that night, and when the air became colder still, more logs were thrown into the fire and blankets wrapped around those who sat by it. And so it came to pass a fortnight later that Celeborn rode forth to Imladris to live with his grandsons. There they remained as around them the world of old faded into legend, legend into myth. From time to time Thranduil with a couple of his Silvan Elves paid them a visit, for he had always been close to Celeborn, and the Hall of Fire filled with songs and tales of old anew.

*

 


End file.
